The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at FSU chapter.

Now that I’m halfway through my sophomore year, I feel like it’s time to address the rarely discussed parts of going away to college. Even though I have truly made some of the most amazing memories and Florida State University is everything I could have wanted in a school, I still feel like I was lied to about certain aspects of college life. Here are the top things nobody told me I would hate about college.

Feeling like I’m not enough and comparing my success to others

College is an introduction to the dog-eat-dog real world with grown-up jobs and taxes. No matter how well you prepare for it, no matter how many clubs you’re president of, internships you get or references you beg your professors for, there will ALWAYS be somebody else who did more, seems smarter and deserves the life you want more than you do. It’s so hard to accept that no matter what you achieve, sometimes you just don’t feel like enough. The feeling that “there’s always someone doing more, ergo I should be doing more” is one of the worst mentalities I’ve discovered in college.

The finish line keeps moving

With every accomplishment you earn or assignment you complete, there’s always something new around the corner that you need to be worrying about next. Every time you think you’re about to cross the finish line, something else moves it a mile away again. The burnout will eventually catch up to you when you never stop feeling overwhelmed.

Feeling insecure about friendships back home

Making new friends and moving to a new environment is scary enough, but having to do it without the people you used to spend every day with makes it even harder. It’s so painful watching my best friends from home move on and not need me anymore. It’s hard not to miss the late-night beach drives and familiar high school hangout spots when you’re liking pictures on social media 400 miles away of people who once knew everything about you. I’ve made the most amazing friends while being away at school and I know that it’s important for everybody to make these new connections, but that doesn’t make the bitter pill any easier to swallow.

three silhouettes in orange sunset — Photo by Levi Guzman from Unsplash

Knowing that my choices now are going to either make or break my life

Sometimes it hits me that at 18 years old I was expected to know exactly what I wanted to do with my life for the next 40 years. How is that the system? It keeps me up at night, thinking about how If I don’t pick the right major or make the right connections now, the next several years of my life could be miserable. Or worse, I’ll spend all this money to get a degree that I won’t even end up using.

When people tell me “These are the best years of your life, make them count.”

This is simply my least favorite thing to be told. It makes me feel like I need to be making memories every second of every day and that this is my peak happiness. The expectations are too much pressure.

How expensive it is living on my own

Being independent has many perks, but paying for everything yourself is not one of them. Nobody told me how much college apartments take advantage of college students. Oh, we have a semi-functioning kitchen and the worst couch you’ve ever sat on? That’ll be a thousand dollars a month, please. Sometimes I just really miss the days when my parents paid for groceries. Seriously, who let blueberries get so expensive?

Not having a close relationship with professors

I would have labeled myself a teacher’s pet in high school. I was a very motivated student who genuinely loved my teachers and enjoyed learning from them. Going from that to an environment where professors don’t know your name and communication with them is limited was really hard for me. Making the extra effort to make sure your professors know you is stressful, especially since you will inevitably need a letter of recommendation from at least one.

Not knowing where I belong and being lonely

In college, it’s hard to resist the urge to conform to fit in and make friends when the alternative is being lonely. Because of that, it can be hard to know exactly who you are and who you want to be. Sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever truly fit in anywhere because I can be in a group of people and still feel completely alone.

All that said, my college experience has truly been amazing, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. While school can seem daunting at times, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else!

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Growing Pains: Things Nobody Told Me I Would Hate About College